La Promesse
Belgium, 1996, 90'
Liège: fourteen-year-old Igor lives in symbiosis with his father Roger, entangled in shady trafficking of clandestine labour. The boy seems to not question himself too much until Amidou, an African with whom he has become friends, dies on the job as soon as he has had Igor - of all people - swear an oath. For the first time, Igor will have to choose between blind loyalty to his father and a promise to keep – sign of a new outlook on the world.
The film that made the cinema of the Dardenne brothers known to the general public, winner of several awards since it premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, elaborated the previous career of the directors and brought it to stylistic – and poetic – fulfilment. The bodies of Igor and Roger (played by newcomer Jérémie Renier and by Olivier Gourmet, launched by the film and later inescapable presences in so many other films directed by the brothers) substantiate the emptiness of contemporary society, which seems dominated be mere interest: only a mother’s love can awaken the feeling of solidarity that overcomes the flesh to liberate the spirit of a boy, now ready to meet his own destiny.
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 11 Nov 2022
- Time: 12:00
Location
- Cinema Stensen - Viale Don Giovanni Minzoni, 25c, 50129 Florence
Organizer
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Jean-Pierre e Luc Dardenne
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are Belgian directors, screenwriters and producers. After studying drama, Jean-Pierre, and philosophy, Luc, the Dardenne brothers shot their first militant works, filming social struggles in Belgian working-class neighbourhoods. In the late 1970s, they founded film production companies and made their first documentary films, including Lorsque le bateau de Léon M. descendit la Meuse pour la première fois (1979), Pour que la guerre s'achève, les murs devaient s'écrouter (1980), R... ne répond plus (1981), Leçons d'une université volante (1982) and Regard Jonathan/Jean Louvet, 231 (1983). In 1996 their third fiction film, La Promesse, was presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, but it was not until 1999 that they gained international recognition with their first Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival with the film Rosetta. In 2005 they won their second Palme d'Or with L'Enfant - A Love Story and in 2008 The Silence of Lorna, dedicated to the theme of illegal immigration and white marriage, brought them the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Among their most recent works, The Kid with a Bike won the Special Jury Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, and Tori and Lokita, Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2022.
